As things stand today, the role of trade unions seems to have been marginalized. Whether lobbying for community rights or dealing with specific cases, the unions have apparently lost their battle against the all-powerful machine of globalization

IN a world changing much faster than most of us care to understand, traditional patterns keep assuming newer proportions all the time. From familial ties to economic theories, nothing stands untouched. Trade unionism is no exception on this count. Just when the working classes need more help than ever in the face of rampant poverty across the under-developed world, the institution of trade unionism appears to be groping in the dark.

Social science researches have generally regarded trade unions as one of the most effective institutions for the well being of diversified working classes. They evolved from such contexts that were the launching grounds of the industrial revolution. Under the rapid technological advancements that aimed first and foremost at achieving prosperity and wealth, a vast segment of the western working cadres was acutely exploited. Whether manual craft guilds or high-scale labour-intensive industries, the employer was the final authority to decide about labour affairs.

After remaining disarrayed and aloof for long, the workers soon realized that the solution to their sufferings lied in the internal organization and collective bargaining efforts. Thus evolved a very powerful platform of human organization that attempted to change the social process far beyond the worker-employer relationship.

The rise in trade unionism in the early twentieth century had a direct relationship with the emerging political ideology of the time, socialism, under ‘an all left’ leadership and paradigm. Whereas the phenomenon was spread to each and every cross-section of society, the flow of fresh ideas, progressive approaches and intellectual input contributed significantly to bolster the position of the labour force. The communist manifesto committed to provide the direction to the expanding body of followers in unambiguous terms:

“(W)ith the development of industry, the proletariat not only increases in numbers; it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows, and it feels that strength more ...

“Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for a time. The real fruit of their battles lie not in the immediate result, but in the ever expanding union of the workers. This union is helped on by the improved means of communication that are created by modern industry, and that place the workers of different localities in contact with one another. It was just this contact that was needed to centralize the numerous local struggles, all of the same character, into one national struggle between classes. But every class struggle is a political struggle ...”

With the demise of socialism as an alternative political ideology, the world appears to be impoverished in terms of vision to choose from and apply for collective benefit. The stringent control of the market forces over all segments of social and economic life has left trade unions in tatters.

The trade unions are now left to grapple with the aftermath of the ‘new world order’ which only thrives on nascent market procedures. Public institutions and production houses around the world — which were the real arsenal of strength for the trade union movement — are being privatized.

In Pakistan three nationalized commercial banks have been sold out while one development finance institution came crashing down with most of its workers laid out summarily. With the privatization of the largest nationalized commercial bank around the beginning of this year, the fate of thousands of its workers hangs in the balance. The convincing possibility remains that there shall be large-scale retrenchment and shuffling, mainly in the lower cadres.

These cadres have been given the worst deal by government policies and concurrent directives in the recent past. According to the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2001), Pakistan Steel was the main organization where more than 6,000 workers were laid off. Other corporations, autonomous bodies, government agencies and departments followed suit during the previous decade.

The private sector obviously remained equally ruthless. Under such circumstances, the workers reverted to their respective trade unions to fight for their legitimate causes. However, little success could be achieved. Transportation, telecommunication, power supply, water supply, commercial ventures and other public entities have been transmuted into private outfits with a contrasting outlook towards operations and performance. The trade union in each of these cases was hardly able to make any difference, what to talk of handling policy moves that are in store.

With the government deriving its strength from the IMF and the World Bank, and the unions losing on ideological, operational and organizational grounds, unconditional success came sailing in for the former stakeholders.

As things stand today, the role of trade unions seems to have retarded. Whether lobbying for community rights or dealing with specific cases of maltreatment and injustice, the unions seem to have lost their battle against the all powerful machine of globalization.

Make no mistake; the malady is not confined to Pakistan alone. It is wide-spread, and is applicable to all the quadrants of the developed and the developing worlds. Despite having been an institutional platform that generated outstanding leadership for various state duties and functions, the trade union movement is on the run for its bare survival.

The journey of trade unions in Pakistan has been drastically affected by the military dictatorships that have ruled the country in one for or the other for over half its independent life. Despotic military rulers attempted to maim and muzzle any potential ground of organized resistance against their illegal usurpations. Workers’ organizations were among the prime targets along with student unions, political parties, professional bodies of journalists, lawyers, doctors etc.

Fascistic blows and iron-hand dealings greatly damaged the potential of trade unions, leaving the hapless workers at the mercy of hostile managements. In the Pakistan Steel Mills, for instance, nine workers were killed in the previous year during an explosion caused due to the alleged negligence of the higher management. The management conveniently pushed the matter under the rug, neither fixing any responsibility nor offering any solace to the aggrieved families.

Similarly, unabated exploitation of workers continue in the two public-sector power utilities under the men in khaki. The collective bargaining agents are under a constant threat of complete annihilation by the respective managements. In the public water utility in Karachi, dozens of sacked employees still await the execution of the reinstatement order passed by the Supreme Court. The frail trade union finds it too huge a task to be undertaken by it under the current circumstances.

The current regime, which claimed to be a harbinger of reforms in all spheres of activity, also tinkered with labour and trade union issues. Whatever came out under the garb of reforms was even worse for the common worker in the final analysis. While the labour policy prepared under the supervision of the late Omar Asghar Khan, who was the federal labour minister, attempted to provide relief to the workers, any practical outcome is yet to be seen.

It is important to note that the primary laws of the country provide ample cover to the trade unions and their activities. However, such laws are seldom respected or implemented. For instance, Articles 3, 11(1-3), 17(1), 37(c) and 38(a to e) of the Constitution of Pakistan essentially cover the multifarious interests of the workers, including the right to form and run associations.

The reality, however, depicts a reverse scenario in many contexts. For instance, the workers of the Export Processing Zones are yet to acquire the mandate to effectively structure a trade union. It shall require the repeal of standing laws of the Export Processing Zone Ordinance 1980, which, indeed, is a distant dream. Different cadres of employees working in the national airline also face the constant threat of being denied the right to run their trade unions.

On its part, the trade union approach and activity is severely mutilated by internal disorders. It is commonly found that trade union leaders act on their own accord in blatant disregard of the larger benefit to the community they represent. A well-known trade union leader from a nationalized commercial bank connived with the management in its downsizing drive in 1996. In return, he successfully retained his own job along with a handful of his cronies.

Similarly, it is observed that the rulers create direct inroads into the trade unions by using coercive tactics. For example, in 1992 in the foremost steel manufacturing plant in Karachi, the government of the time banned the trade union and planted a man in uniform to weed out opposition from the trade unionists. This could only be made possible under the clandestine deals of the pro-establishment administration and a few black sheep amongst the union leaders who ditched their own brethren for petty personal gains. Countless incidents like this one have shown that due to lack of internal mobilization, strength and vulnerability to outside pressures, the trade unions can seldom put up any meaningful resistance in the wake of mounting pressure.

In these murky waters, business and industrial concerns in the private sector have been able to strike the most critical blow to the workers and their organizations.

Traditionally it was the private businessmen, industrialist or corporate organization which used to regard unions as a threat to their profiteering, exploitation and other self-serving pursuits. However, they were dependent on their employed labour force to a considerable extent. Over time, they have seemingly found workable alternatives. To demolish union-based activities, contract labour is now replacing — in fact, it has already replaced — permanent employment.

Some of the leading cartels have done away with organized labour unions by forcing the employees to change their status under pressure. From textiles to publishing, garment to flour milling, and automobile to chemical plants, contract labourers now undertake each and every aspect of work. In case of slightest disagreement over anything, the worker can be fired without even being assigned a reason or being served with a notice.

The previously used tactics of hunger strikes, closures or street protests hardly matter in today’s approaches. Such actions do not affect the managements, who use such incidents as a pretext for taking harsher measures against the workers.

The prevailing impotence within trade unions has been caused due to several factors. The inter-sectoral collaboration within the trade unions network is nowhere to be found. In the past, trade unions of one trade used to get staunch support from bodies of other trades as well as political parties and media. With the continuous downgrading of the political process, activism has been totally wiped out.

With the demise of the communist paradigm, the alternative political ideology has been lost to vacuum. Needless to say, socialist-communist leanings did help a great deal to nurture very potent manpower for trade union movements in various contexts.

The lack of visionary leadership with untainted integrity is also lost to petty gains. Now, with a few precious exceptions, operators have replaced ideological workers/leaders, and consider material gains as the most vital component of their working norm.

Reduction in the international collaborative effort has also taken the steam out of the trade union movement. Previously, several strong and pro-active confederations used to lend support to these movements. With the ascendance of globalization/WTO regime, most such bodies have been reduced to talking outfits without much practical baseline.

Despite all these constraints, the need of trade unions in the present civil society remains paramount. They are still needed for providing leadership to their ranks in particular and society in general. Trade unions shall be vital in the WTO regime to assert the interests of the proletariat across the capitalist-monopolist nexus. And, most importantly, they will be needed to serve as a platform that can lead towards the creation of viable leadership for the vast majority of masses that they traditionally represent.

This is a tall agenda and cannot be addressed with a conventional approach. A heavy task load now rests upon the ranks of trade unions. In order to be able to develop workable options for their followership, the trade unionists must study the realities carefully and analyze the situation in an objective manner. Thereafter, they need to continuously educate and inform themselves about the existing and forthcoming changes in the policies as well as the work setup.

The need of the hour is to establish links with those intellectuals and thinkers who have a hands-on experience and know-how of the changing society. By adopting an informed approach and a flexible attitude, trade unionists must dump conventions, and adopt innovations to best suit their lot.

Besides, they need to upscale their power through improvement in the viability of their skills, experience and rationality of approach. While none of these is an easy task, under the circumstances learning the art of survival is even tougher than the survival itself!